This is an information age. More information related products having embedded powerful microprocessors are available in the market continuously. These products not only bring a lot of convenience to people but also are closely related to our daily life. Applications of information related products such as computer peripherals (e.g., data storage devices) are even wider as information technology advances faster. Also, people have an increasing demand to the quality of the information products. Thus, an indicator about whether information technology of one country is more advanced than other countries can be decided based on whether computer peripherals produced by that country can provide a more convenient service, a more effective operation, and more ergonomic features.
As to the design of computer (e.g., notebook computer or desktop computer) with respect to weight and size pursued by computer manufacturers, not only compactness, lightweight, and slimness but also all-in-one are development focuses. Accordingly, the more advance of computers the more advance of its peripherals will be. It is understood that the peripheral market is very competitive. Also, there are a variety of models of a single peripheral produced by different manufacturers available in the market. Thus, a great burden is borne on peripheral manufacturers for selling their products. In an opposite view, vast consumers will be benefited due to the increase of product selection chances. It is appreciated by most consumers that they can buy a high quality, ergonomic, and all-in-one peripheral with a fair price.
In view of the above, for winning in the competitive market of information products a peripheral produced by a peripheral manufacturer must be multi-functional and ergonomic (e.g., a data storage device being portable, compact, and large in capacity) in addition to fair price. A micro drive is an information product thus developed by the above concept. The micro drive has the advantages of, for example, (1) plug and play (i.e., useable in any place, easy installation and use, and no driver required), (2) compactness, lightweight, no additional equipment, and no external power for activation, (3) least amount of power consumption and off-but-ready or power saving mode supported, (4) write protect for data safety, (5) complied with USB (Universal Serial Bus) 1.1 specifications, (6) many operating systems (e.g., Mac OS 8.6, Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP, Windows 98, and Windows 98SE) supported, (7) different memory spaces (e.g., 8MB, 16MB, 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB . . . 1GB, etc.) available, and (8) no USB port required for leaving one USB port available for a peripheral (e.g., mouse, printer, etc.) coupled to the USB port while operating the micro drive.
The availability of micro drives effects a more convenient storage and portability of data. However, commercially available micro drives suffered from several disadvantages. For example, the micro drive is connected to a USB port of computer by insertion. Such configuration is not what the computer manufacturer expects because the USB port is designed to connect to one of various peripherals such as mouse, printer, scanner, keyboard, and joystick rather than the micro drive. In this regard, the USB port is typically mounted on a surface of computer case for ease of coupling to the peripheral. It is found that the micro drive is projected from the computer as the micro drive is connected to the USB port by insertion. This can detract the computer's external appearance. Moreover, a user or another person passing the computer may contact the micro drive unintentionally, resulting in a drop of the micro drive, a damage of the micro drive, or an interruption of data being transferred resulting in data loss or error.
Thus, it is desirable among peripheral manufacturers and vast consumers to provide a computer having a slot with the USB port provided in the bottom of the slot for receiving and connecting to a removable data storage device in order to overcome the above drawbacks of the prior art.